Adjusting the cogs on rear brakes

[IndpMind]

Hey all,

Long time no chat.........I have put this off for some time now,but now its getting to me. I read a tutorial on the brake adjustment for my
05 and don't think I ever quite got it. My car has too much forward/backward movement when in Park pushing it from the rear. When you adjust
this cog inside the drum/rotor is it down for the passenger side and up for the drivers side to tighten? Tutorial only gave a right/left side explanation
but I could take that any way. Is right side, passenger, left side driver? I would assume this is correct, but you know how things get viewed differently on this.

Do I adjust the cogs w/the handbrake released?
Once I tighten them till they are locked, do I back them off a couple turns until they move slightly or freely? Then do I pull up on the handbrake
to check for proper feel?
I don't think I need to adjust the parking lever itself. I changed my pads about a year ago, and putting everything back together resulted in
this slop I'm getting........trans. shifts fine, it's just the feel of the brake pedal when engaging the gears and the forward/backward movement in park. Any laymans terms explanation on this is appreciated!

[rpiereck]

- Jack up rear end, both wheels off the ground.
- Slacken hand brake cables.
- With the wheels ON, adjust cogs inside drums until the wheels can't be turned by hand anymore.
- Once you can't turn the wheels by hand, loosen the cogs one or two clicks until shoes aren't dragging any more.
- Now tighten hand brake cable until you can't turn the wheels by hand again.
- Once that is done, tighten jamb nut on cable and leave cables, they are adjusted.
- Go back and loosen the cogs one click and see if shoes drag. If they drag, loosed one more click.

That should be it, your hand brake is adjusted.

It is important to do the adjustments with the wheel installed as it takes more force to turn the brakes by hand with the wheels off than with them on. It's a pain to remove and re-install the wheel every time you need to adjust the cogs, but you get your adjustment right this way. Just put wheel on hub and hand tighten one lug nut, you don't need all four.

[IndpMind]

I don't believe the cable adjustment applies to my year does it? I didn't mess w/the brake cable when I took off or installed my pads. Thank you for the info. on leaving
the wheels on. Right now I can spin the wheel pretty good w/the handbrake applied. I didn't get the answer as far as and up or down adjustment for both sides. I have
a feeling I'm way out on adjustment and I don't want to click the wrong way before I realize I should have gone the other way.

[rpiereck]

I really don't remember if mine (on the NG900, similar mechanism) is up or down for tightening, I really can't help you there.

[IndpMind]

I'll get it, thanks for the info.